USCGC Tahoma WMEC 908

USCGC Tahoma WMEC 908

This coin honors USCGC Tahoma WMEC 908, the eighth of the Coast Guard’s Medium Endurance Cutters. Bearing Tahoma’s crest on its obverse, it captures the cutter’s mission and its lineage as an important part of America’s oldest continuous maritime force.

Tahoma is the third cutter to proudly bear that mark, which derives from the Pacific Northwest Indian tribes’ name for Mount Rainier, the region’s tallest peak at 14,410 feet. The newest Tahoma was commissioned on April 6, 1988 and originally based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Tahoma was the first major military asset on the scene, taking charge of the more than 30 Coast Guard cutters and small boats tasked with protecting the waterways around lower Manhattan.

Minted in bronze with an antique finish, the obverse displays Tahoma’s insignia in bright enamel color. The reverse features the official Coast Guard emblem.